Railway cars or railroad cars with one or more hoppers have been used for many years to transport and sometimes store dry, bulk commodities and materials. Hopper cars are frequently used to transport coal, sand, metal ores, ballast, aggregates, grain and any other type of lading which may be satisfactorily discharged through respective openings formed in one or more hoppers. Respective discharge openings are often provided at or near the bottom of each hopper to rapidly discharge cargo. A variety of door assemblies and gate assemblies along with various operating mechanisms have been used to open and close discharge openings associated with railway cars.
Hopper cars may be classified as open or closed. Hopper cars may have relatively short sidewalls and end walls or relatively tall or high sidewalls and end walls. The sidewalls and end walls of many hopper cars are typically reinforced with a plurality of vertical side stakes. The sidewalls and end walls are typically formed from steel or aluminum sheets. Some hopper cars include interior frame structures or braces to provide additional support for the sidewalls. Some hopper cars may be generally described as top loading and bottom unloading. Such hopper cars typically require closing gates or doors located underneath the hopper car prior to loading and opening the gates or doors only when the hopper car is at a specific location in an unloading facility. Through use of linkages and one or more power sources such as an air cylinder, a hydraulic cylinder, an electrical motor, capstan drive system or other types of operating mechanisms associated with hopper cars, the gates or doors may be closed prior to loading and opened to discharge lading.
Railroad cars or railway cars often use pneumatic systems to operate various components and/or to carry out various functions associated with each railroad car or railway car. In particular, the brakes of a railroad car may be actuated when an air pressure signal from an associated locomotive is received by the respective brake system. A dedicated train line extending from an associated locomotive may supply air for charging the respective brake system of each railroad car attached to the associated locomotive and may allow transmission of an air pressure signal that directs the brake cylinder of each railroad car to actuate.
Other components of a railroad car may also be air powered similar to pneumatic systems that operate the brakes. For example, pneumatic systems (sometimes referred to as “auxiliary systems”) may be used to lower and raise a ramp for surface loading vehicles. Pneumatic systems may also be used to open and close discharge doors, hatches, or other doors on a railroad car. Such pneumatic systems often require a separate train line that runs the length of the train to supply respective air reservoirs to operate respective pneumatic systems or components associated with corresponding railroad cars.